Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Occasionally, we have been known to be a little obsessive about our hobbies.

Ok, more than occasionally.

We had a chance to sit under the wings of some of the two-handed masters this winter, and we tried to absorb all of the casting and fishing knowledge that we could from these badasses without being an obsequious tool about it. All of these Jedi are really cool guys, easy to be around and willing to delve into the theory of 2-handed casting at the drop of a geeky hat.

To y'all that helped us get our head around taper profiles, recovery speeds, loop braking, 2-handed drift, top- and bottom-hand theory...Thanks. Y'all didn't need to listen to - much less answer - questions from some fool who wanted to get to the bottom of the geekiness, but you did.

The wife would also like a word with you...something about a bank account and a shotgun, or something...

The following is an essay in geekese, with the spoils of the sickness so far...

Echo TR 7130...the gateway rod. So easy to cast a Skagit compact, it should be illegal.

Friday, March 13, 2009

We opened our E-mailbox late last fall to discover yet another deleterious exotic species. Seems that Cap'n K and a few Eastern acquaintances spent a few weeks of last summer chasing Atlantics around on some cheesy little river in Canuckistan, and his grip n' grin was proof-positive that such animal indeed exists.

While we thoroughly enjoyed the Cap'n stories about the "ghillie" that kept falling asleep and the buddy that risked jail-time to smuggle some split-shot onto their "beat", we still gotta wonder - Atlantics? Really, Cap'n? We can understand the tropical stuff, but full-on, rent-a-beat-and-throw-goofy-old-stuff Atlantic fishin'?

Aren't you supposed to fish for those with silk lines? Gut leaders? Greenheart rods? Shouldn't you be wearing tweed, smoking a briar, and be seriously contemplating colonizing the nearest country full of folks more unlike and less well-off than you?

In fairness to the Cap'n, he's been wanting to do this for a long time, and judging by his $500/lb fish, he saw what he needed, and he probably ain't goin' back.

Perhaps there is something that we are missing in all of this...maybe some folks are drawn to tradition not for the sport, but for the comfortable ritual established around it. The familiar feeling of doing something that the rest of the herd is doing, achieving complacency through homogeneity.

Well, we never got the urge to wear the Old Man's cologne or fix up 50's rides, so we're really not sure what all the fuss is about. But when it comes to tradition, we think that it definitely has a place, and that place is behind us. It should be thoroughly reviewed from time to time, and looked upon as A Good Start.

Friday, March 6, 2009

The photographic capture and rendition of falling snow is an art form, one that we have yet to successfully engage in. We have no problem sneaking up on and photographically ensnaring the snow while it is resting upon the landscape, but we can't seem to digitally grasp the particular reckless insouciance with which the March snow seems to fall. This, however, does not prevent us from trying.

Scenes of snow at rest from the last of the semi-sunny days for awhile.

4 to 8 inches of accumulation expected today, more tomorrow, with a slight respite forecast sometime next week - Anyone have the number for the groundhog? We need to give him a piece of our mind on this whole "Winter" business.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Back, and officially done with show season. While the fight to save Bristol Bay continues on the front lines, we will be behind the curtain pulling levers and speaking into the microphone. Soon to be out from Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska is the "how-to" manual for hosting a RedGold movie night for your fly fishing club or organization...many thanks to Hick for gettin' the first one done up proper and paving the way for future functions.

We had fun hangin' with M² and B² (not to be confused with B2), chowin' down on Mex, Steax, Drinx, and BS. Lookin' forward to the next time, gents.

Big Honkin' Thanks to Cap'n Rajeff for the fine Thai meal Sunday night, and thanks to the Dalai Larimer for the company, conversation, and 30-minute-wonder spey lesson. We owe you both.

And while we're at it with the shameless pandering and casual sentimentality, we wanna give a shout out to a blast from the past...

Just before we left for Cali last week, the phone rang. Being the semi-civilized, mostly upright bipedal mammals that we are in the morning, we stared at the unknown, out-of-state number on the caller ID in mute incomprehension for a ring or two, then decided to answer it.

...And for a minute or so, we had no idea what was going on. The voice on the other end of the phone was reciting names and places from what seemed like years ago with casual familiarity, and somewhere in the yet-to-be-caffiene-jumpstarted region of our rather small brain we could almost picture the person on the other end of the blower.

Then he said his name...

...and for about a half-hour, we caught up with one of the old college crew, Davey B. Livin' somewhere in CheeseWorld now, he's married and fishes as much as he can, but not as much as he wants to. Damn shame, 'cause this kid is one of the lights...fly-tyin' fool, and one of the cats that helped us along the path.

Good to hear from you, man...even if the circumstances were not optimum, we appreciate the call.